Can You Describe Your Business in a Few Words?

If you ask people what their businesses are or sit in a presentation, you will likely to find that many companies have hard time to describe their business. People often try to cover every area of their businesses’ expertise, all of their industry experience and each qualification they have attained in an effort to paint the full picture of what makes them stand out. Consequently, the messages are diluted, sounding like everyone else, and audience is confused. A process of distilling the essence of your business from various aspects is mind-wrenching. What you gain from going through the process, however, are a crystal-clear understanding of the business in your own mind and clean, exciting message in the minds of your customers and staff. Meredith Vaughan, president of Vladimir Jones, introduces her agency as “an agency of exciting minds.”


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Trading Places: A Smart Way to Change Your Mind

Placing ourselves in other’s shoes is an approach which smart professionals often take in their business practice. The common problem, however, is that we often got it wrong when it comes to take others’ perspectives. Maxine Clark, founder and CEO of Build-a-Bear Workshop, switched companies for a day with Kip Tindell, cofounder and CEO of the Container Store. Both outfits are big, fast-growing, passion brands in the ultra-competitive world of retail — although they have little in common in terms of target customers, in-store zeitgeist, or corporate missions. Take a look at what they had gained from the switch…


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